Now-and-then music: 1996

Belatedly, here is the final installment of Now-and-Then Music for this (now last) year, during which we took a look at a couple of new releases, as well as a glance backwards at popular music released in 1956, 1981, and 1996. I didn’t get around to reviewing nearly as many collections as I wanted to, particularly for 1956 and 1996 (for some reason, 1981 wasn’t much to my tastes). I won’t pretend to have listened to enough new music released this year to make a Top Ten list for 2006, but I’ll post lists for 1956, 1981, and 1996 during the holiday season, before flipping the calendar forward one year and doing it all over again.

Top Albums of 1996

Revival
Gillian Welch
released April 1996
(Almo Sounds)

This collection, Welch’s first, displays her trademark retro-country-folk leanings. All of the songs are original numbers, most co-written with collaborator David Rawlings, yet sound as if they were lifted from a 1940s-era Border Radio broadcast. Welch’s ear and sensibility seem at home in such antique settings, and while the songs here sometimes sound too self-conscious to be the real McCoy, they are lovingly created facsimiles of traditional country music. Her future work would encompass a richer fusion of old and new, but Revival is a beautiful homage to musical simplicity.


Guardian Angel
The Haynes Boys
released June 1996
(Slab)

Guardian Angel, the Haynes Boys’ only release, is basically a collection of rootsy, edgy cowpunk numbers that strike one as rough-edged Uncle Tupelo knockoffs that gain much from Tim Easton’s quirky songwriting and goofy, washed-out vocals. Easton would leave the band soon thereafter to pursue a solo career, but Guardian Angel stands as fine white-trash, speed-freaking, couch-burning music.


Unchained
Johnny Cash
released November 5, 1996
(Warner Bros)

For my review of Unchained, go here.





The Road to Ensenada
Lyle Lovett
released June 18, 2006
(Curb)

Probably the best collection of new music from 1996—and the best of Lyle Lovett’s substantial corpus—The Road of Ensenada is a fully realized, mature piece of work. Nearly all of the songs are Lovett originals, many of them written in the wake of his divorce from actress Julia Roberts. Such heartbreak, failure, and regret are here blended with Lovett’s catchy, breezy style to produce something prior recordings lacked: a touch of gravitas. “It Ought To Be Easier” and the hidden track “Girl in the Corner” are the most blatantly autobiographical, directly addressing his marriage, but other songs, like “Don’t Touch My Hat” could be heard as a comic subtlety on the perils of marrying a sex symbol. At any rate, Lovett’s balance of humor and heartbreak is a winning combination, helping him to produce the finest work of his career.


Amazing Disgrace
The Posies
released May 14, 1996
(DGC)

For my review of Amazing Disgrace, go here.





A Few Small Repairs
Shawn Colvin
released October 1, 1996
(Columbia)

For my review of A Few Small Repairs, go here.





Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
released September 24, 1996
(A&M)

This follow-up to Crow’s highly successful commercial debut—Tuesday Night Music Club—is not quite so much anything but pop music…very tasty ear candy. Several of the songs here were played so often, in so many different settings, it was easy to get sick of them—sports bars, TV commercials, your girlfriend’s CD player…you just couldn’t get away from Sheryl Crow, but it’s still pleasant stuff if taken in small doses. Pop music didn’t get any better in the 1990s.


Bringing Down the Horse
The Wallflowers
released May 21, 1996
(Interscope)

Very similar to Sheryl Crow, this disc was ubiquitous. It was loosely inspired by the mid-90s’ roots revival and perfectly blended alt-country, post-punk, and folk into a very listenable pop music that is slick without being unctuous. “One Headlight,” “6th Avenue Heartache,” and “Three Marlenas” are veritable clinics of contemporary pop songwriting. Because of this disc’s overexposure, the band became a victim of its own success, but if you haven’t heard the soaring intro to “6th Avenue Heartache” in a while, it can still stop you in your tracks and make you listen.


Faithless Street
Whiskeytown
released 1996
(Outpost)

Yet another product of the 1990s’ alt-country scene—and arguably the most heralded of the era—Whiskeytown was powered by the precocious songwriting of Ryan Adams, who has since moved on to pop stardom as a solo act. Faithless Street, the band’s first collection, only really took off after it was re-released upon the commercial success of its follow-up, Stranger’s Almanac. Faithless Street was a loose marriage of punk and country, and there are plenty of loud, up-tempo numbers here to display what that synthesis sounds like, but the 20-year-old Adams earned his marks as a songwriter on the quiet folk-country songs, such as “Mining Town” and “Factory Girl,” songs more complicated than their simple arrangements, harmonies, and lyricism might indicate. All in all, this is a great disc, and sadly, the band never really hit such a high mark again.


Being There
Wilco
released October 1996
(Sire/Reprise)

This double-disc collection, Wilco’s second, marks the beginning of the band’s emergence as something more than an alt-country outfit. Bandleader Jeff Tweedy explores half a century of popular music influences, pulling willy-nilly from bluesy rockers, quiet country-folk, The Beatles, Gram Parsons, and more to create a collection of original pop music that manages to transcend its time and place. Being There is not a Frankenstein’s monster, but hangs together very well in its own right, despite being derivative of so many other musical styles, a point astutely noted on Tweedy’s composition “Someone Else’s Song,” a nice tongue-in-cheek bow to his musical influences.